I’m guessing RSS will post their anomaly before UAH this month. Roy seems a bit busy:
Power is gradually being restored in and around Huntsville. UAH is closed till tomorrow, which would be my first day back to work in a week…except that I have to go to DC for the biannual NASA Aqua satellite review.
Yesterday I helped with the tornado cleanup effort in Fords Chapel, a small community northwest of Huntsville on the edge of Anderson Hills…an area that has now gone through its second major tornado disaster. The church group I was with spent most of our time with chainsaws cutting up downed trees and dragging them to the road to be picked up.
BTW: I have reason to believe a frequent commenter lives near Memphis where some people are flooded out. I read blowing the levee near Cairo is supposed to help waters retreat there too. Hope you’re on high ground you are yours have not been harmed or majorly inconvenienced by this.
Also, anyone who sees RSS post– let me know!
If you mean me, we are probably going to be fine. I live near the Wolf River, but far enough away from the Mississippi to be good (I hope). At least we have plenty of warning, unlike the poor folks in Alabama.
And the good news is that there is no rain predicted for the next 5 days.
But thanks for your concern. There are people here who need it.
Boris–
Yes, I meant you. I even checked comments and saw you’d been away. This could mean any number of things ranging from a) you have a life, b) you are flooded out yourself, c) you are helping flooded out neighbors. But I’m glad to hear you are ok.
(Besides, if you watched the loonie video on the previous post from about minute 11 to the end, you’ll hear “memphis, memphis, memphis!!! The woman seems to be very concerned something horrible is going to happen to you guys.)
Apparently New Zealand was feeling left out and decided it needed a tornado too: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/03/3206547.htm
Count on a surge in generator sales in the Southeast.
We went through this in 2005 in Florida. Everybody and their uncle bought a generator after going a week without power. 5+ years and counting, and not a single use. I know one retiree who dropped ~$15,000 on an automatic propane fired 20 KW backup for his whole house. Never been used. It does however does burn $150 a year in propane ‘exercising’ itself. I settled for a $1,100, 8 KW gasoline version, and keep plenty of extra gas around during hurricane season. I hope people in the SE who are suffering now keep some perspective.
Re: SteveF (May 3 14:12),
Losing power in the winter is more common where I live. Between lightning strikes blowing up transformers and ice storms bringing down lots of trees, at least one power outage lasting several hours minimum happens every year. As a result, all my important electronics are connected to UPS’ with a true sine wave inverter for the really sensitive stuff. That at least gives me time to shut down stuff normally and keeps my home network running smoothly for the short glitches.
SteveF–
When my sister and brother in law lived in California, they figured they “needed” a gas grill in case of earthquakes. Of course that got used regularly anyway, but keeping sufficient number of propane bottles around meant you’d be able to do some cooking after the earth quake. They had a list of things that people recommend one stock.
Jim and I discussed a small gasoline powered generator when some town in Illinois lost power for some reason. It sometimes makes sense in some towns in Illinois, but we figured it makes very little sense around here. I’m not sure anyone can plan properly for a direct tornado hit– the generator would probably be gone with the wind. If our lot was more or less ok but we lost power due to a wide spread black out, we would visit other family members and/or use the gas grill.
If the New Madrid fault line spawns the big one during winter, I’m not prepared for that. I have no illusions.
Luica,
People here in Florida often make informal agreements so that everyone doesn’t have to buy a generator. My two next door neighbors each agree to stock 15 gallons of gas in hurricane season in exchange for having a kilowatt of power available from my generator via extension cord… should this be needed. The last time we were without power (three days!) I let them plug in to run their fridge, lights and TV. They volumteered to buy gas for the next outage.
.
in the north, the big issue is freezing in winter. When I lived in Maine, I always had a generator available, since I needed some power to keep the heating system in operation. Ruptured pipes can cause many thousands in damage, and in January, this can happen very quickly. One person I knew came back from a winter vacation in the Bahamas to find his basement had become a swimming pool!
.
I learned my lesson when I lived in Pennsylvania… we were without power for 4 days in February (ice storm). Even fires in the fireplaces were not nearly enough, I ended up having to rig an exhaust duct from one of the cars in the garage to the outside, and ran the car 24 hours a day at idle to generate enough heat to not freeze pipes in the house. After that, I never was without a generator of some kind on hand.
SteveF–
Yes. Pipes freezing is a big danger. I don’t think it’s possible to just drain them. Or.. maybe it is? (We could turn the water off and open faucets drain to some extent.)
If it’s not too cold, letting them drip helps, but I don’t know if that would help enough if we lost power when temperature were well below freezing for a sustained period of time.
Lucia
Draining your pipes is a bit of work but is relatively easy. Up here in Canada, anyone with a cottage drains their pipes each fall. Most important thing to do is TURN OF THE POWER TO YOUR HOT WATER HEATER before you do anything else. Otherwise the heating elements will burn out almost instantly. City water …turn it of. Pump…turn it of and disconnect from well supply line. Disconnect pipe from pressure tank to pump. Open pump and allow water to drain out. Add antifreeze to the pump. Open all taps, water connections to appliances, etc. Open drain on hot water heater…need hose to send water outside. Allow all water to drain out of system ….. disconnect toilet…flush….. add antifreeze to toilet bowl and tank. Close all the taps. Open one at a time and blow through the tap (or supply line to the tap) to force out the water. Close the tap. Repeat procedure for all taps.
Look on the internet for a more complete description … or call a plumber.
Phillip–
We’ve drained our water heater before. We had to flush and drain the one we owned in WA state frequently.
I’d never drained all the pipes in my house. But that will be useful info if we ever lose power.